In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court broadened the power of law-enforcement officers to search people without warrants.

In 1978 heavily armed masked men stole millions of dollars in cash and jewelry from a Lufthansa cargo facility at Kennedy International Airport in New York.

In 1981 Peruvian diplomat Javier Perez de Cuellar was selected by the UN Security Council to be the fifth secretary general of the world body.

In 1984 a nativity scene was displayed near the White House as part of the federal government's official Christmas display for the first time since a federal appeals court ruled it illegal in 1973.

In 1985 General Electric announced it would buy RCA, including its NBC network. (It was the largest non-oil company merger in history.)

In 1986 the South African government drastically expanded its 6-month-old media restrictions by imposing prior censorship and banning coverage of a wide range of peaceful anti-apartheid protests.

In 1988 tons of illegal fireworks exploded in a Mexico City marketplace, claiming 62 lives.

In 1996 a committee of 400 Hong Kong notables chosen by China elected shipping tycoon Tung Chee-hwa to be the first post-colonial leader of Hong Kong. (He took power in July 1997.)

In 1998 the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee, voting along party lines, passed three articles of impeachment against President Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky affair and sent them to the House floor.